Documenting Behaviour - Fact Sheet

Mental health professionals in white coats are not the only ones who can observe human behaviour and record the results! Keeping a record of incidents is a crucial part of Positive Behaviour Support.

• Documenting each incident
• What sort of information can be recorded?
• Identifying Triggers

Documenting each incident

It might sound very clinical to write the details of the latest challenging behaviour, especially when it’s about a family member or partner. But keeping records of each incident greatly increases the chances of appropriate behaviours in the future. Why? Documenting each incident can:

• identify possible triggers by comparing various incidents
• show which strategies are working best over time, and the ones that don’t work
• provide vital information for the rehab team or support workers
• keep a record of overall progress.

What sort of information can be recorded?

Behaviour consultants will often recommend a report be filled out on each incident, which could include:

• when the behaviour occurred
• where the behaviour occurred
• with whom the behaviour occurred
• how long the behaviour lasted (duration)
• the severity of the behaviour (intensity)
• what could have triggered the behaviour
• what was occurring before the incident
• what occurred after the incident
• strategies used and their effectiveness.

Identifying Triggers

Identifying triggers can be tricky; sometimes you just need to write down all the possible causes and look for patterns that emerge over time. Remember the trigger may have been something that happened well before the actual behaviour emerged. For example, Julie gets anxious very easily after her brain injury, and she doesn’t get along well with her mother who visits each month. Julie often starts screaming at the slightest provocation the day before her mother visits, and it took her support workers a few months to join the dots and realise what the trigger was!

This is why it is so important to look at all these questions, and record what happened after each episode of challenging behaviour. The key is to look for patterns emerging over the weeks or months. Is the trigger due to eating a particular food? Does the behaviour occur at a certain time of the day? In a particular environment? The process been likened to being a behaviour detective!